NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C.—North Carolina has point guard Marcus Paige and wing J.P. Tokoto already in the corral for the Class of '12. Duke has shooting guard Rasheed Sulaimon, whose rapid ascent here at the Peach Jam has made Mike Krzyzewski look a teensy bit smarter every day.

And Kentucky has ...

Kentucky has assurances from coach John Calipari.

“We’ll be fine,” Calipari told Sporting News on Thursday. “We’re not getting every kid we want. No one does.”

Well, you could have fooled us. Kentucky’s first three recruiting classes under Calipari included eight McDonald’s All-Americans, five NBA first-round picks to date and most of the key players for teams that reached the '10 Elite Eight and '11 Final Four.

With all of that success, Kentucky is having to wait along with most other programs as the Class of '12 makes up its collective mind.

It was only four years ago Sporting News examined why so many prospects were committing to colleges before they’d even been high school sophomores. Half of Scout.com’s top 10 prospects in the Class of '10 chose colleges that early. We were prompted to write about the phenomenon after guard Trae Golden committed to Ohio State. Naturally, he wound up at Tennessee.

The trend seems to have reversed itself. Only two of Scout’s top 10 in the '12 class have committed as they stand a month before the start their senior years, and with four months until the week-long early signing period for basketball prospects.

“I know who I like. The funny one right now is, people will tell kids what I’m thinking: ‘He thinks you’re the fourth-best guard or fifth-best guard.’ Do I? Then commit to us, and I’ll take you.”

Kentucky is listed as a possible destination by five of the eight uncommitted top-10 players, so it’s not as though the Wildcats have wandered into the desert. Shooting guard Shabazz Muhammad of Las Vegas, big man Andre Drummond of St. Thomas More in Connecticut, Dajuan Coleman of Syracuse—Kentucky isn’t out of the picture with any of them.

And the Wildcats have a chance with power players Jarnell Stokes of Memphis and Perry Ellis of Wichita, along with muscular guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera of Indianapolis and spectacular Archie Goodwin of Little Rock, Ark.

And others.

“We’ll get kids late if that’s what it takes,” Calipari said.

The Wildcats’ incoming freshman group of Mike Kidd-Gilchrist, Anthony Davis, Marquis Teague and Kyle Wiltjer was in place last August, but Calipari waited until late May of 2010 before current star Terrence Jones made his choice and didn’t land guards Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb until a month before that.

Perhaps U.K.’s recent success producing players and winning games gave fans reason to believe things should get easier in recruiting. But that’s the lesson: It never gets easier.

Krzyzewski hung three championship banners in Cameron Indoor Stadium and still had years like 2008, when he landed future transfers Olek Czyz and Elliot Williams and backup big man Miles Plumlee.

For Kentucky, the concern is the immediate needs for the 2012-13 season could be profound.

The Wildcats are losing seniors Darius Miller and Eloy Vargas for sure. It was remarkable that Jones delayed his NBA entry for a year, and it’s highly unlikely he’ll do that again. Lamb is another sophomore who might be ready for the pros next spring. And the only way Calipari holds onto the entire freshman class is if the NBA and its players association agree to extend the draft age limit to 20 years.

“We’re going to have to get some guys that can come in and play,” Calipari said. “We’re going to have to get more than 2-3 guys. We could end up losing as many as seven players. But we’ll be fine. The least of my worries is that.

“At the end of the day, we’re a players-first program and kids know it’s good for them.”

Calipari said his greatest concern as he watches various summer tournaments is how to construct an effective playing style for the next Kentucky team.

“I’m sitting in here thinking about: How am I going to get this year’s team playing?” he said. “I end up daydreaming, ‘Where am I putting this guy? How am I playing this guy?’ Because I’m watching guys that, what, 99 percent I’m not going to coach anyway.

“The thing that I’ve got to make sure is the guys are mentally tough enough and physically tough enough to come in and play. Cause it’s Kentucky.”

(Email Mike at decourcy@sportingnews.com and follow him on Twitter at @tsnmike.)